Did you hear that? It’s the sound of NBA appeal and influence in this country falling hard to the floor. Due to the ongoing labor crisis, the league cancelled a big chunk of preseason games last week. Within another few days, it’ll probably be time to cancel the rest of the preseason. And you know what comes after that…casualties in the regular season, and with it, an erosion of all that added interest the league obtained from people who tuned in strictly for the purpose of hating Lebron James and the Miami Heat.

The damage could get a lot worse before it gets better. The winners of the league’s 2008 and 2011 MVP awards may be bolting the homeland to play overseas. Both Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers told the media today that it could happen.